The Gordon Research Conferences on Proteins is an ongoing biannual conference. This conference aims to bring together a small group of persons who are leaders in research into the fundamentals of structure function relations in proteins, with the purpose of allowing effective discussion of key issues at the frontier of the field, so that progress can be accelerated. Because of the importance of protein folding, stability and function in disease, the progress stimulated by the conference should directly benefit biomedical research. Since "Proteins" is a rather broad topic, for the 1997 meeting, we have selected seven topics of focus, each f which bears heavily on the structure-function relations of proteins in general: 1. Dipeptide Conformational Energetics (theory and experiment) 2. Folding processes (theory and experiment) 3. Protein Evolution (observations and principles) 4. Protein Switches (examples and principles of signal transduction) 5. Hyperthermophilic Proteins (theory and experiment) 6. Pores, Channels, and Receptors (observations and principles) 7. Protein Engineering (principles and possibilities) We are requesting $6,000 from NIH of partial funding towards the estimated $44,500 we will need support speakers and provide some scholarships for the 1997 Gordon Research Conference on Proteins will be held at Holderness School in Holderness, New Hampshire from Sunday, June 15 to Friday, June 20, 1997.